One more day and a new year begins. Mom celebrates completing 88 years of living on January 1. We are looking forward to 2011 and new joys.
Since my last entry a few things have happened. We had a crowd here for Thanksgiving. Good food, laughter, babies, animals, football games, etc. It was your typical Thanksgiving Day.
During the first week of December, we had Mom's hearing tested and found out (no surprise) her hearing had decreased greatly so that the hearing aids she wears were not doing the job for her. So...new hearing aids. The new ones are different in shape and she is having trouble getting used to putting them on. I figure it's no big deal if she never learns to get them on, so I help her each morning. And each evening, I help her take them out... Bottom line, she can hear again.
But...hearing again is not the only problem. Her brain is still having trouble keeping up with what she hears. That will never change. We still have to speak slowly to her. We have to wait until her face lets us know she is understanding what we are saying, then we can continue with our speaking. We have to make sure she knows we are talking to her.
Unless she is directly within inches of the tv, she cannot follow the program showing. Not only hearing, but seeing. So during the day and evening, she sits in her chair, trying to follow along, falls asleep, wakes up on occasion, eats, drinks, talks a little, and sleeps again. Late evening when we all go to our bedrooms, she sits directly in front of her tv and can follow along with "Everyone Loves Raymond", her favorite show.
I know she misses the ability to get up and get out the house whenever she wants, but her reality is sitting in her chair. She alternates between her rocker and her recliner. The rocker is in front of the windows and she enjoys looking out. Falls asleep soon after sitting down. Wakes up, moves to her recliner in front the tv, and falls asleep again. Goes to her bedroom to lay down to rest her legs, and falls asleep again.
I want to do so much for her. I want her to enjoy a ride in the car. I want her to enjoy a trip to the mall. I want her to enjoy a meeting with friends. It is so hard to accept her reality. She can't see out the window clearly, therefore she spends much of any ride with her head down. Maybe it makes her dizzy. I don't know, because she won't say. The last few times we took her to the mall/Wal Mart, she spent most of the riding around with her head down. Again, the fast moving of the things on shelves must make her dizzy.
I talked myself out of taking her to see Christmas lights. After thinking about the effort it takes just to get her into the car, then the frustration she will have because the lights are not clear to her, and the diminished seeing due to darkness, I saved myself and Harry and Mom some sorrow by not even mentioning the idea.
I guess we both have to admit and accept our limitations.
Christmas week brought us a new grandbaby. "Great" for Harry and me, and "great great" for Mom. Alex had a baby boy on Dec. 22. Well...his girlfriend had a baby. They named him Kadin. Who knows if they will get married, but the baby is beautiful and we will love him.
This past year has given us lots of babies to love. Anastasia, Savannah, Ava, and Kadin. Along with the older babies (Kara, Bryson, Bayleigh,and Brooklyn), we are kept busy keeping up with them. And another one will be added in January. Whew!! STOP already! These kids can't afford a pot to pee in, and they just keep making babies.... We love them, but...
Because the new baby was at his grandma's house , Deanna, the kids went to her house for Christmas day. That left us to ourselves and we had a quiet day. I cooked because we had to eat, but although we had turkey and dressing and some of the extras that come with a holiday meal, it was small and intimate with just the six of us around the table. Soon after, Stephanie and Kara left and we had a very quiet day after that.
Mom's December trip to the Wound Care Doctor was uneventful, but gave us good news. Her wound is decreasing at a good pace. The doctor is very pleased. The wound has gone from a major opening to a small opening at the top and another small opening at the bottom of the original site with strong healthy skin closing the middle. Slowly, slowly... not knowing how long this wound had gone unnoticed, the several months we have been dealing with it healing is not a bad thing. One day it will be gone...
So, our year comes to an end. We are mostly healthy in mind and body and very healthy in spirit. We love the Lord, enjoy Him daily, expect and receive His blessings, and look forward to the coming year together....
